We often get stuck in our own way of doing things and overlook tiny details that could make our lives much easier. For example, I recently learned that a metal ring on the side of my potato peeler can be used to dig out those pesky black spots.There are plenty of people online who enjoy sharing these tricks to help out fellow netizens who haven’t heard of them. This time,Bored Pandafound them gathered under this Reddit thread. So, we invite you to scroll down to find the most surprising objects withsecret featuresthat will make your life a bit more convenient.While you’re at it, make sure to check out a conversation with industrialdesignersCeline WongandLisa Pechenkina, who kindly agreed to tell us more about the magic of hidden features in products.This post may includeaffiliate links.
We often get stuck in our own way of doing things and overlook tiny details that could make our lives much easier. For example, I recently learned that a metal ring on the side of my potato peeler can be used to dig out those pesky black spots.
There are plenty of people online who enjoy sharing these tricks to help out fellow netizens who haven’t heard of them. This time,Bored Pandafound them gathered under this Reddit thread. So, we invite you to scroll down to find the most surprising objects withsecret featuresthat will make your life a bit more convenient.
While you’re at it, make sure to check out a conversation with industrialdesignersCeline WongandLisa Pechenkina, who kindly agreed to tell us more about the magic of hidden features in products.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
If you get an email in Outlook and you don’t want to deal with it right then but also don’t want to forget it altogether, right click or select the 3 dots on the email and select ‘Snooze’. Pick when you want the message to reappear (later that day, the next morning, etc) and it will be delivered at the top of your inbox at that time!glitch-possum:New Procrastination Ability Unlocked!!!
Rubbing alcohol kills bugs within seconds. Pour it into a spray bottle and go on a killing spree in a well-ventilated area.hufflefox:Also stops itching from bites. Dap some on those mosquito bites before you scratch and the welt shrinks and goes away.
On Android. (not sure about Iphone), you can schedule text messages. I often send stuff to my employee late at night but I just have it scheduled to send the following morning. Plus it makes them think I’m up early doing boss stuff.
Bored Panda reached out to industrial designersCeline WongandLisa Pechenkina, who kindly agreed to tell us more about how hidden features are included in products.
Wong pointed out that hidden features should never compromise aproduct’s designor user experience. “While it’s ideal for users to stumble upon them organically, it’s also acceptable if they remain undiscovered. For instance, I only found the hidden game on my Fellow kettle after owning it for two years, showcasing that discovery can occur over time without detracting from the product’s core functionality.”
Potato peeler can peel a perfect slice of hard butter from the fridge. No tearing of bread trying to spread hard butter.
I recently read that the reason old-timey door handles/door knockers were made of brass was because brass kills bacteria.
In the US, you can always call 911 from a phone even if the phone doesn’t have service. Parents, remember this when giving kids old cell phones to play with.
Pechenkina describes secret functions in industrial design as something that can help maintain a clean and minimalist designaesthetic. She provides an example of a hidden front camera in smartphones that manufacturers often hide at the top of the screen. “This design choice maintains a clean display surface, enhancing the overall sleekness of the device while users still know that their device has that front camera,” she adds.She also mentions that “in some products, additional functionality can be hidden from prying eyes while the product owners know about that additional functionality. In compact apartments, furniture manufacturers offer hidden storage solutions, such as ottomans with built-in compartments or coffee tables with lift-up tops that reveal additional storage space. These hidden features maximize the use of limited living space, providing 2-in-1 solutions.”
Pechenkina describes secret functions in industrial design as something that can help maintain a clean and minimalist designaesthetic. She provides an example of a hidden front camera in smartphones that manufacturers often hide at the top of the screen. “This design choice maintains a clean display surface, enhancing the overall sleekness of the device while users still know that their device has that front camera,” she adds.
She also mentions that “in some products, additional functionality can be hidden from prying eyes while the product owners know about that additional functionality. In compact apartments, furniture manufacturers offer hidden storage solutions, such as ottomans with built-in compartments or coffee tables with lift-up tops that reveal additional storage space. These hidden features maximize the use of limited living space, providing 2-in-1 solutions.”
on both iphones and qndroid phones, if you take a screenshot, and then what to draw on it like circle something, or arrow, or write something, go ahead and make the circle BUT don’t lift your finger off the screen for a second and it will turn into a more aestheticly pleasing circle (or character or whatever). works with letters, arrows, squares, circles, numbers…
Many libraries in the U.S. have portable wifi hotspots and laptops that you can check out for a month at a time.Tempest_in_a_TARDIS:My local library has a “Library of Things,” and I love it! You can check out wifi hotspots, telescopes, laminators, a home theater projector, an external CD/DVD drive, and lots more. It’s really great for when you need something for a project but don’t want to invest money in it because you’ll only use it once or twice.
You can set custom keyboard shortcuts. I use @@ to paste my email and && to paste my address. It’s really usefulEdit: For iPhone: Settings-> General->Keyboard->Text Replacement
Pechenkina believes that in complex products, the inclusion of hidden features serves a crucial purpose. “For example, keeping the main interface simple for most users while sneaking in advanced features for those who need them. This way, everyone gets a straightforward experience, but more advanced users can still access those extra tricks when they need them. It’s all about balancing simplicity with depth, especially in digital design.”She also explained the different ways hidden features could be made easily discoverable to users without compromising the design of the product. “This could involve QR codes on household appliances linking to online tutorials or augmented reality overlays showcasing hidden functionalities in designs.”
Pechenkina believes that in complex products, the inclusion of hidden features serves a crucial purpose. “For example, keeping the main interface simple for most users while sneaking in advanced features for those who need them. This way, everyone gets a straightforward experience, but more advanced users can still access those extra tricks when they need them. It’s all about balancing simplicity with depth, especially in digital design.”
She also explained the different ways hidden features could be made easily discoverable to users without compromising the design of the product. “This could involve QR codes on household appliances linking to online tutorials or augmented reality overlays showcasing hidden functionalities in designs.”
Most people hold walking sticks wrong and get like 5% of the support you could get, the handle is supposed to face forward, like with crutches, it keeps the weight distribution correct and in line with your shoulder.
A lot of people forget that most of our smartphones have compasses built in them.
Another great method is the use of customizable features that allow users to tailor their experience and adjust the visibility of secret functions to their preferences. For instance, “a wearable fitness tracker may analyze user activity patterns to suggest advanced workout modes or health-tracking features. Embedded sensors or companion apps [can] gather user usage data and preferences [so] the product can adapt its interface to highlight or suggest hidden features [that are] tailored to individual user behaviors.”
In windows, WIN+number launches the application you have pinned on your taskbar. Eg. I pin the calculator as the first app so WIN+1 launches the calculator when I need it.
If you find the childsafe function on the cap of a prescription medicine bottle annoying (and you don’t have kids you need to protect), a lot of the tops are designed to be used upside down as well, as normal, easy-to-open screw tops.
YouTube has no ads if you retype the video or playlist link in browser with a dash (yout-ube).
Rubbing alcohol can clean the inside of your car windshield . Ever notice how the inside is kind of smeary, it’s from off gases from the plastic from the dashboard. Just put some alcohol on a paper towel, wipe the glass well and then get a clean paper towel or microfiber, spray glass cleaner, dry all and you will have the shiniest window.
Every time i dig into the settings of my phone (samsung galaxy) i find a bunch of features that arent default on but are actually useful. Like when taking a selfie, rather than awkwardly trying to hit the shutter button, you can just show the camera your palm and it starts a photo countdown.
Hearing aids, believe it or not, are also used as an aid to distract your brain from tinnitus or other very annoying audio intrusions.
“Potato water” is great for cleaning silver. The starchy salted boiled water after you’ve cooked potatoes, let it cool and throw in your jewellery, fancy cutlery, whatever, all the dirt comes off and then just a quick polish.
The metal posts in your cars headrests can be used to smash the window in an emergency - same as the little hammer you can get.
Those little plastic “tables” in the middle of your pizza box keep the cheese from sticking to the cardboard, but they also can be used to hold down the neighboring slice, so you can remove your slice without touching any others.
Honda CR-Vs from the early 2000s have a secret picnic table under the floor in the back.
Whistles are built into the zippers of a lot of outdoor equipment, like backpacks and jackets.
Garlic press - you don’t have to peel the garlic before pressing, the press does it for you.
Many microwaves have a secret silent mode. The most common methods to activate it are holding either 0, 1 or 2 for about five seconds. If none of these work, try holding Start or Cancel for five seconds. Otherwise, search for your microwave brand and include the word “mute”.
Hair dryers can double as de-wrinklers when you’re too lazy to iron your clothes.
Put a damp paper towel over rice, tortillas, or just about anything that dries out in the microwave to keep it soft.
My VW automatically switches the vent to recirculate, when I shift to reverse. This minimizes the intake of exhaust gases when backing up.
Many ceiling fans have a switch to reverse the direction for differences of summer and winter Temps. Your fans should pull up in the winter and push down in the summer.
A lot of screwdrivers/nut drivers have a hole at the top of the handle. That’s so you can insert another screwdriver (usually a Phillips head one) and now it’s like a t-driver for extra leverage.
On a smart phone if you are typing and hold down the space bar button you can then scroll left and right to move the cursor on the text!
Pedestrian crossing control boxes (i.e., beg buttons) in the UK have a little cone on the underside to assist visually impaired users. If you hear a crossing beep, you might not know whether your crossing is the active one. But the little cone rotates when the crossing you engaged is active, so you know for sure.https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-22706881
Most libraries have passes to your favorite local museums, zoos, and major attractions that you can check out for free and save hundreds of dollars a year.
There are tabs on the sides of aluminum foil, Saran wrap, parchment paper, etc you press in that holds the roll in the container.
The stapler built into the work printer is the best stapler in the office. If your stack of documents can fit in the slot at all, it’ll staple.
Most pocket knives that copy the swiss army knife model, have an Awl. This is used the same as a needle, but for sewing-together leather pieces. Makes a good leather-punch if you lost weight and need some new belt notches.
In windows 10, naming a jpg file “folder.jpg” will make that image (and only that image) the preview for the folder. Great when viewing in extra large icons.
You can replace the large jar on your blender with a mason jar when you need to blend or chop a small volume of something.Just screw the cap with the blades onto any small mouth canning jar and proceed.Blenders were designed for this use.
Hold a spoon under hot- hot water, then place it onto a mosquito bite. Feels awesome and the itch goes away!
The top rack in most dishwashers adjusts up and down so you can fit taller things in the top rack. There are little clips on the sides of the rack that you use to adjust it. Go take a peek at your dishwasher 👀
Most vegetable peelers have a metal ring on the side. It’s to dig out black spots from potatoes.
Photoshop’s eye-dropper tool can pick up colour from outside the PS window. Just click and hold while inside the window and then drag outside. I always mention this on questions like that because it is soooo useful.
On CD players, when you hold rewind, you can go into ‘negative seconds’ on an applicable track. Some albums used the ‘negative seconds’ on a CD to put an in-between opening to a song so that when you skip to the song, you also skip the opening. More interesting is an example like Relient K’s Mmhmm album. If you hold rewind on the very first track long enough and let go, you will hear the album’s hidden track (which is also the album’s title track at that). It’s mostly an instrumental with humming, but it’s good and interesting and sadly a great novel way of hiding hidden tracks that quickly is disappearing with the mass' move to digital.Edit: just wanted to thank you all for showing me so many other albums that did this. It’s crazy how many of them did, yet I only really knew about a few. Like even knowing about this little secret didn’t make it something I regularly checked for simply because of how obscure and rare I already knew it to be.
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Dude, did you know that most staplers have a built-in staple remover on the bottom? Mind blown!
Some tubes of medicine have a pointy thing on the cap that allows you to pierce the tamper resistant packaging.
The bottom of a ceramic coffee cup is great for sharpening knives. Hold the knife against one side of the exposed ceramic ring, raise 15 degrees, and carefully slice forward scraping the knife against the bare ceramic. 5-6 strokes on each edge usually works for me.
The apple logo on the back of iPhones is a secret, programmable button.
I had been using disposable five-blade razors for years before I realized there’s a single blade on the flip side for doing edges.
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Lots of electronic car keys have a hidden “analog” metal key that slides out of the fob in case your key battery runs out.
My wireless mouse has a compartment in the bottom for storing the dongle.
You can use the handle hole on a cutting board to funnel ingredients into a pot. I guess just more of a handy tip than an intended feature, but figured I’d comment.
iPhones have a built in white noise machine. Instead of using Youtube or Spotify or something, just go to: Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds. It doesn’t use your data or wifi. I use it every night to sleep.
In the US, interstate highways going east to west are even-numbered and the further south you are, the lower the number.Interstate highways going north to south are odd and the further west you are, the lower the number.Interstate highways that are three digits go around a city instead of through it.
On an iPhone you can take a picture of clothes/fabric tags with all those washing symbols. Then go to photos and click on the picture, swipe it up to get more info and it comes up with a ‘Laundry Care’ option first. Click it and it tells you what each of the washing/laundry symbols means!
Running shoes have an extra hole so you can lace them more securely. Called a heel lock.
Some mechanical eyeliner pencils have a sharpener on the end. Looks like a little cap. edit: retractable eyeliner pencil, i should say.
Bike pumps fitting schrader valves can also inflate car tires. Sure it’ll take a while, but in a pinch it’ll help you get to a shop. Much better than the powered inflators since the bike pump doesn’t rely on a battery and takes up very little space.
Roku makes a smartphone app that has a remote function, complete with a keyboard so you don’t have to arrow to each letter and type ridiculously slow. and if you have multiple Rokus in your house, it will know the difference between all of them, and you can select which one you want to control. I believe it’s over wi-fi, not the regular frequency the remotes use.
Windows 10’s clipboard can be turned on to remember a ton of things you’ve copied. It’s the Windows + V combination.
if you’re like me and hate your phone screen being bright, you can make it even darker than the darkest standard setting (iPhone) Accessibility>Display & Text Size>Reduce White Point.
When you get prescriptions, included in that big wad of paper stapled to the bag are stickers you can use to put on alternate storage containers, like if you put your pills in those weekly boxes or keep a stash of something in your purse.It is illegal to carry unlabeled pills (at least some of them, not sure of exact laws).I know FOR SURE they are on CVS, and IIRC Walmart & Sam’s have stickers too, but it has been a while since I have gotten non-CVS
If you’re driving at night and someone behind you has bright headlights that tab on the bottom of your rear view mirror works as a dimmer.
A US dollar bill is exactly 6 inches. So if you needed to measure something you can use that. Fold it in half to measure 3 inches, etc.
Most smartphones have a lock out sequence of button presses that disables your biometrics in the phone. This forces the user to type in the password to unlock it. Handy tip of you are ever pulled over or arrested as the courts have ruled that it takes a warrant to force you to unlock your phone via biometrics and they can’t force you to provide your passcode.
Gas station pumps - next to the screen, the second button down on the right usually mutes the annoying tv.
Toasters have a hidden compartment underneath them so they can be easily cleaned.
Most bottle opener styles have a flat piece that’s meant for sliding under can rings.
If you screenshot a webpage on your iPhone you can swipe left on the screenshot to switch to a capture of the entire webpage rather than the piece that fit on your phone screen.
My stand mixer has a plug where you can insert all kinds of attachments like a pasta roller, meat grinder, cheese grater, even a food processor.
Can Openers - on bottom before the handle is a bottle opener. I learned about this at 24 years old….
Chinese take-out boxes open into a plate.
Many toasters have a Bagel Button. It causes there to be heat on only one side, since the outside of the bagel is already cooked. There’s probably also an icon that shows you the orientation. This leaves you with a bagel that has a crispy surface but soft underside.
90% Isopropyl alcohol is great for cleaning vulcanized sidewall rubber on Vans and Converse style shoes. Also for getting sticky label residue off CD/DVD Cases. But be careful, it may take color off certain things. Test in a small spot first. Also good for cleaning tape deck/VCR heads and CD/DVD laser lenses.
A lot of people don’t understand the broil function of an oven. The reason the door can be left propped open several inches* is for use with the broiler. It’s the flame or heating element coming from the top (the door props open because the heat should spill out as you are cooking with radiant heat rather than convection like with baking/roasting) and can be used for all sorts of things.As a simple example you can seriously impress your friends with a killer plate of nachos when they come over to watch the game and they are easy as hell to make.*edit: This can be different for some ovens as there can be a broiling drawer under the oven so that the oven only needs one burner for the oven when it’s built or it can have a vent that exhausts the heat out of the oven leaving the radiant heat as the mode of cooking.
There is a knife sharpener on the back of most electric can opener’s. A s****y knife sharpener, but a knife sharpener nonetheless.
The little tab on the top of nail clippers locks them closed so you don’t cut yourself. Not the big piece that is used as a pinching mechanism. There’s a tiny clip.
The holes in the pot handle. You can put the spoon in there in between stirs.
(Red) Solo cups lines ; the line at the very bottom measures a 1-ounce pour of liquor, the next line a 5-ounce serving of wine, and the line closest to the rim for 12-ounces of beer.
Xbox lets you record up to 10 minute clips at a time and a diligent content creator can use the feature to build small scale contentI also think this is advice a boomer would give to this question but pull the bottom tray out from your microwave* and scrub it. It is removable. It’s not a hack. It is a feature. Please, just scrub that tray, man.Edit: toaster oven, not microwave, your microwave needs the circular dish scrubbed, but not the bottom tray (it’s good practice to disinfect that bimonthly, imo, but I’m not educated on that). If you cook with it, please f*****g clean it.
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Eligijus Sinkunas
Product Design
